Review of Organism Density and Bacteriologic Conversion of Sputum among Tuberculosis Patients

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to describe the trend of sputum organism density and the rate of bacteriological conversion among smear positive TB patients assessing care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective patient folder review from January 2013 to March 2016 at the KATH, a tertiary hospital in Ghana. The data was entered into Microsoft Access database and exported into STATA for analysis. We applied basic descriptive statistics to study variables. Sputum conversion rate (SCR) was estimated using the number of negative tests recorded over a period (numerator) and the number of patients reported in the same period (denominator) and expressed as a percentage. RESULTS: A total of 278 patient records with sputum smear positive at onset were studied. Before treatment sputum density detected in smear microscopy was as follows: 1 acid-fast bacillus (+) (n = 114), scanty (n = 19), ++ (n = 67), and +++ (n = 78). We recorded sputum conversion rate of 80.90%, 94.56%, and 98.31% in the intensive, continuation, and completion phases, respectively. CONCLUSION: This study has shown an increasing trend in sputum conversion of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis and an increasing trend in loss to follow-ups among tuberculosis patients on treatment.